Fabric, such as denim, can be abraded to simulate a worn look. Conventionally, a wet process such as a stone and/or an enzyme process is applied to the fabric, typically after the fabric has been assembled into a garment, to create a faded and worn look. Specifically, an enzyme wash in combination with an agitation element, such as sand, stones or rocks, removes color from a ridged denim fabric to develop a contrasting pattern of variable color intensities creating an abraded and stonewashed look. For example, the faded areas of the denim fabric can correspond to areas where stones or rocks contact the fabric during the enzyme washing process. However, traditional stonewash and/or enzyme processes have numerous drawbacks. For example, each manufacturing cycle requires extensive time to create the abraded stonewashed look. In addition, the process uses a significant amount of enzymes and water, the handling and disposal of which has a substantial environmental impact.
Another method of abrading fabric involves manually abrading garments or products after assembly. Garments, such as denim jeans, or products formed of panels that have not been abraded pre-assembly, may be mounted on a mannequin or a machine and hand abraded with sandpaper or grinding tools to simulate wear. However, hand abrading is time, labor and cost intensive.
Recently, lasers have been proposed to process graphics and patterns onto a surface of a fabric, thereby creating different looks using a dry process. However, re-creating a wet process such as an enzyme wash or a stonewash look using laser processing techniques is difficult due to the unique characteristics created during an enzyme wash and a stonewash, where each garment or product differs from the other. This current process is expensive and slow, as it requires the garment or product to be mounted on a machine, laser treated on a first side, and then turned around for laser treatment of a second side. While laser abrading or imaging an assembled product is somewhat less labor intensive, it is still time consuming and labor intensive because the garment or product still has to be changed from back to front and doffed off the machine. Laser etching of an assembled product is also less accurate because an assembled product is not flat and, therefore, not all surface areas of the product are equidistant from the laser, resulting in a lased image or pattern with lower resolution. Furthermore, certain areas of an assembled product, such as the crotch area of a jean, cannot easily be accessed and treated by a laser. Moreover, implementing uniform, repeating patterns may not adequately capture the contrast in color intensities that create an atheistically pleasing enzyme and stonewash pattern.
Prior patents U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,495,237 and 6,616,710 disclose methods and systems for irradiating various substrates with a laser in order to apply a graphic to the surface. Specifically, the '237 patent discloses methods to create a stone wash image and the '710 patent discloses use of a laser to simulate an enzyme wash.
Commercial implementation of those techniques, particularly implementation across full width rolls of denim, in order to create a stonewash and a ring spun image has resulted in improved techniques disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015/0079359, which is incorporated herein by reference, to allow even more realistic images to be lazed onto denim through modification of the coloring of the dyed fabric.
In any case, regardless of the abrasion process used, sizing, style and care instructions still need to be added with a conventional sewn-in label. Conventional labeling applications involve printing labels and then sewing them into the garment. However, such labels are often itchy, large, unsightly, and tend to fade with time and washing until they are illegible.
Therefore, there remains a need for a method and system that replaces, improves upon or reduces the use of wet and dry processes, eliminates post-assembly manual or laser abrading, avoids use of any chemical processing as well as sewn-in labels. There also remains a need for a method and system that is less labor and time intensive, and that is more efficient.